In the late 1800s, Father John Velge began painting frescoes on, well, everything inside the St. Benedict’s Catholic Church in Captain Cook (Big Island). Since then, the heavenly imagery therein has been referred to as The Painted Church.

How to get there:

Take Ke Ala o Keawe Road or Hawaii Belt Road (highway 11) to Painted Church Road, which looks deceivingly residential at first. Take it up over the switchback and look for the white steeple. Outside, on the church grounds, you get a great view of things, and can sometimes buy goods like medals and crucifixes from a cart outside.

Post from: The Hawaii Traveler

We were at Hapuna Beach at dusk, and stayed until well after the sun dipped down past the earth’s curve. I could see the moon’s reflection in the wet sand and looked upward and inland, and pointed to a blue star. I said, “I wonder if that’s Venus.”

As it turns out, it’s the observatories at the top of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano, and also the highest peak in the world, when measured from its base at the sea floor. From the edge of the island, and way down at sea level, I got an indication of just how high thirteen thousand feet above sea level is. At that height, it’s no wonder you can ski on it.

It was no matter. I made a wish and said, “Star light, star bright…” anyway. We’ll see if wishing on Mauna Kea works just as well as wishing on a real star. The next time I’m in Hawai’i, we’ll know it did.

Post from: The Hawaii Traveler

I saw all these little gems in one Big Island tide pool the size of a cereal bowl; it was carved into a huge slab of lava near Pu’uhonua o Honaunau. (Or, if you get tongue tied with all those syllables, just call it the Place of Refuge.)

The lava is what makes the Big Island a paradise for people like me, people who find the divine in the details. And, because the lava rock provides a nice habitat for fish and there’s little sand to obscure the view, it’s also a snorkeling picnic for those who actually like to get in and go deep. In fact, Rodale’s Scuba Diving Magazine rated the Big Island as one of the top three destinations for Best Snorkeling, and Best Visibility. Take that, Carribean!

I saw similar, small sites at the breathtaking Ke-awa-iki Beach, in some of the rocks jutting up out of the salt-and-pepper sand. I could really take my time there, without interruption, mostly because we were the only two people on the entire beach, which is probably because of the 15-minute walk through a very inhospitable lava field, next to an even more inhospitable barbed wire fence. At the southern edge of the bay were the most impressive collection of tide pools ever. You’ll find them in the older, smoother lava, although the incoming tide might be the thing that eventually runs you off.

The snorkeling here is famed to be good when the water is calm, however there is never a lifeguard on duty, and because it’s the least known beach on the island, poses the greatest danger to swimmers during high surf.

The next time you find yourself with some time and your reef shoes, stop on the rocks and look down–and closely. You’re bound to find a little sea within a sea. Tread lightly and prosper!

Photo by Webshots–rickreh

Post from: The Hawaii Traveler